Discovering YOU Magazine August 2017 | Page 20

BUSINESS CENT$

3 Steps to Becoming

a Savvier Online Shopper

Article by Talend Data Company

understands its customers, while only 61 percent of consumers believe companies understand their needs. This begs the question: How do we differentiate between those brands that are using our data the right way, versus those that have a long way to go? Second, how do we help the brands we love understand us better without sacrificing our privacy?

1. Understand which data to share.

Think about your favorite shopping app or website. Does it know which brands you prefer? What about your shoe size? Does it have your zip code stored for shipping estimates? Does it make appropriate recommendations? The strongest relationships in life work both ways, so if you want a brand to know

(BPT) - Every day, people use data to influence their decision making - from where to go for dinner, to selecting stocks in which they should invest, to where to live. Every Google search we perform, every Yelp review read or written, each item of clothing, houseware or electronic device we put in our virtual cart, is another data point companies can use to personalize our experience with their brands.

Despite all the data at their disposal, it seems many brands still don't fully understand what consumers want from them in terms of products or services or how to best engage with their end buyer. A recent survey from cloud and big data integration company Talend shows 88 percent of information technology leaders believe their organization truly